Learning to See Again

I didn’t buy the Ray-Ban Meta glasses for photography. I picked them up to help with real-time translation while in Mexico, mostly to better understand conversations and signage as I slowly work on my Spanish. I also liked the idea of listening to podcasts on my walks without wearing earbuds. But what I didn’t expect was that they would become a tool for something else entirely, a new way of seeing.

I’ve been posting images on Instagram under the hashtag #mexicowithmeta, and while the photos aren’t technically perfect, that’s part of the charm. There’s something freeing about not composing through a screen, not pausing to hold a phone in front of my face. Instead, I walk, I look, I listen, and I shoot with a quick tap.

Because I can’t see exactly what I’m framing, I’ve had to guess. I’m trusting my sense of space, my body’s orientation, and the moment in front of me. This act of guessing, of trusting that I’m seeing the scene properly even when I can’t preview it, has brought something unexpected: a return to presence. I’m not editing reality as I go. I’m just responding to it.

What’s emerging is a kind of street photography that feels more fluid and intuitive. I’m not overthinking composition or light. I’m just moving through the world and letting the camera capture from my point of view. The results are imperfect but honest. A bit off-kilter sometimes. Sometimes beautifully aligned by accident.

There’s something deeply human about capturing the street like this. These aren’t polished images; they’re glimpses. Glimpses of tacos being eaten in shadow-dappled sidewalks. Glimpses of cracked paint and tangled wires. Glimpses of traffic that stretches toward the mountains. Glimpses of Mexico in its everyday rhythm.

This process is teaching me to see again. To stop staging. To trust instinct. To find value in imperfection.

This isn’t about replacing a DSLR or mirrorless camera. This is about seeing without stopping, capturing without interruption. The Ray-Ban Meta glasses aren’t perfect, but they offer something surprisingly rare in our image-obsessed world: the chance to look first, shoot second, and reflect later.

More soon from the streets of Mexico. In the meantime, I’ll keep walking and tapping, one frame at a time.